MSGID: 1:153/757.0 c668b3f0   
   TZUTC: -0800   
   CHARSET: LATIN-1   
                           Astronomy Picture of the Day   
      
       Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our   
         fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation   
                       written by a professional astronomer.   
      
                                  2022 January 25   
      
                        Video: Comet Leonard over One Hour   
       Video Credit & Copyright: Matipon Tangmatitham (NARIT); Text: Matipon   
                                   Tangmatitham   
      
      Explanation: Which direction is this comet heading? Judging by the   
      tail, one might imagine that Comet Leonard is traveling towards the   
      bottom right, but a full 3D analysis shows it traveling almost directly   
      away from the camera. With this perspective, the dust tail is trailed   
      towards the camera and can only be seen as a short yellow-white glow   
      near the head of the comet. The bluish ion tail, however, is made up of   
      escaping ions that are forced directly away from the Sun by the solar   
      wind -- but channeled along the Sun's magnetic field lines. The Sun's   
      magnetic field is quite complex, however, and occasionally solar   
      magnetic reconnection will break the ion tail into knots that are   
      pushed away from the Sun. One such knot is visible in the featured   
      one-hour time-lapse video captured in late December from Thailand.   
      Comet Leonard is now fading as it heads out of our Solar System.   
      
        Gallery: Notable images submitted to APOD of Comet Leonard in 2021   
                     Tomorrow's picture: colorful star clouds   
        __________________________________________________________________   
      
          Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)   
               NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.   
                   NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices   
                         A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC   
                                & Michigan Tech. U.   
   --- BBBS/Li6 v4.10 Toy-5   
    * Origin: The Rusty MailBox - Penticton, BC Canada (1:153/757)   
   SEEN-BY: 1/123 15/0 90/1 103/705 105/81 106/201 120/340 123/131 129/305   
   SEEN-BY: 129/330 134/100 153/105 135 757 6809 7715 218/700 840 221/1   
   SEEN-BY: 221/6 226/30 227/114 229/110 206 317 400 424 426 428 664   
   SEEN-BY: 229/700 240/1120 5832 266/512 282/1038 301/1 113 812 317/3   
   SEEN-BY: 320/219 322/757 335/364 341/66 342/200 396/45 460/58 633/280   
   SEEN-BY: 712/848 920/1 4500/1 5020/1042 5058/104   
   PATH: 153/757 221/6 301/1 229/426